Chocolate Yogurt Bundt Cake

Does chocolate cake ever need an introduction, or is this pretty self-explanatory?

Fine, I will spell it out for you: I was craving chocolate cake!

And I wanted something supermoist, you know, the kind of cake that melts in your mouth and melts your heart and makes you forget about the snow outside that might not ever melt!

I’ve been on a Bundt kick lately, because they’re so casually fancy, and I’ve just been too busy for anything more than one bowl and one baking pan. I threw in some chocolate chips and dusted with powdered sugar to at least give the appearance of effort. And if you’ve got a bushel of strawberries burning a hole in your produce pocket then now is a good time to use ’em.

So there you have it! A deeply delicious and chocolatey cake that you never need a special occasion to bake. Tonight I’m going to share it with my writing group because another bonus? You can eat it with one hand!

Notes

~ I used coconut yogurt, but I think any plain or vanilla yogurt will work. I really like the So Delicious brand.

~ For the boiling water that you add at the end, make sure to measure it after boiling, not before, since some might evaporate.

~ I pulled everything off with a simple whisk, but feel free to use an electric hand blender if you prefer!

~ If you can’t accept a Bundt Cake without icing, try the ganache here.

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, milk and canola oil until smooth, about a minute. Mix in the vanilla.

Sift in about half of the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix until almost smooth, then add the remaining flour and hot water. Mix again until smooth. It’ll be relatively thick.

Fold in the chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan and bake for 55 minutes to an hour. A knife inserted through the center should come out clean, but because of the chocolate chips it might be hard to tell. Just make sure there’s not a bunch of batter on it.

Let cool for 20 minutes or so, then invert on to a cooling rack to cool completely. Because the cake is so moist it may take a little tapping to get the cake to release.

Once completely cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve with strawberries!

Nope! In my opinion, dessert is dessert, and if you have some sugar once or twice a week there is no reason for concern. Stevia and xylitol taste like chemicals to me and I would rather just eat fruit if I want something healthy.

I knew that coconut milk yogurt I just bought could be put to better use than as breakfast with granola (yawn!)! Making this once I polish off the last piece of the chocolate strawberry cake already in my fridge…because a constant supply of chocolate and cake (and better yet a combination of the two) = happiness. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!

i just put this in the oven. it is fantastic. and the best part about being vegan is that we can lick the batter off the spoon. thanks for so generously posting your recipes for us all. and i can’t wait for your new book!

Yum!! I made this because I was looking for a way to use up some soy yogurt. I had exactly 1.25 cups. I think it was fate.

I am usually not a huge chocolate cake lover, but this is really delicious! It reminds me of a sour cream chocolate pound cake that my grandmother used to make.

I will definitely be making this in the future. It was so easy to whip up, and it tastes terrific! It will be a great dessert to serve to my non-vegan friends and show them how delicious vegan food is.

I made this yesterday and, though the flavor is delicious, it is so dense and heavy. I think it probably weighs 5pounds. I would appreciate help troubleshooting this as I would love to try again. (I ddidn’t forget the baking powder….) Thanks.

I know I’m a killjoy, but any tips on how to make this white or some-other-flavor cake? I know I could take out the chocolate chips and probably be fine, but there’s a lot of cocoa powder to sub for. More flour?

Completely understand the need…the NEED for chocolate. Right there with you 🙂 Baked this up for a pre-birthday cake for hubby (scored points for that excuse) Ha! I had three…count them…three pieces and am seriously considering a fourth. I made as directed with one exception…Silk strawberry yogurt. With the berries as a topping it worked! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you! I have a coworker who can’t eat gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, or corn, and I just made this with a gf flour blend and coconut yogurt and it turned out great! I’m glad I have something delicious everyone in the office can enjoy. I made it in a lasagna pan (whatever size that is – 9×14 or something?) and it took about 40-45 minutes to cook.

Okay…I have tried leaving a link to my blog for you to check out and it isn’t happening. Sure hope they aren’t locked away never to be enjoyed by all…ha! Wanted to say thank you for the great dessert last night…loved it so much I blogged about it and you. Click on my name and it will hopefully send you my way.

Isa, do I measure the yogurt with dry measuring cups or liquid measuring cups? Not sure it will make a difference but I don’t want to risk it. Thanks.
Your pumpkin muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance are fabulous.

I want to make this recipe tonight for a birthday party/baby shower at work tomorrow. Do you think I could use mini bundt pans rather than one regular size one? Not sure if the recipe would need to be altered — or perhaps the cooking time. I look forward to trying this; it seems like it will be delicious! Thanks!!

mmmm! i finally made this and it was so delicious! and perfect with strawberries. i’m going to make it for a party this weekend!
i love your recipes so much. I haven’t made one from the books, or the site, that hasn’t turned out great!

I made this today and the flavor was delicious, but the consistency was more brownie-like than cake. I followed the recipe and made no substitutions (used plain soy yogurt vs. coconut yogurt), but the batter did not rise. Any suggestions? I was thinking of trying part baking soda and baking powder next time to see if i get more rise.

Made this today for a friend’s birthday (she wanted something chocolate with fruit!), and it was great. She only does whole wheat flour so I made it with whole wheat pastry flour. I’m going to try it again with all-purpose to see if it makes any difference. The chocolate chips in it are so yummy! I may eat another piece tonight with some vanilla soy ice cream. Woohoo! Because even though it is her birthday, I didn’t offer her the rest of the cake. Some friend, huh?

I made this last week, and now I’m about to make it again! I couldn’t find my bundt pan, so I used my mini loaf pan. I looked up the mini loaf recipe on this site and used the baking time from that recipe…. Absolutely amazing! The batter is seriously just as good as the cake! 😀 Thanks again, Isa!

Amazing. Thank you for this recipe. I have been trying to find one with yoghurt that actually works for ages.
Your baking definitely inspires me…even if it makes me eat more desserts than I should.
Thank you.

I have made many of your desserts and they are wonderful! I recently learned I have an intolerance to wheat. Who knew? I typically view myself as quite a tolerant person, but if there is one thing I will not tolerate, it’s wheat. Having said that, can you recommend wheat free flours I can use in your receipts?

Making this in a few minutes. From my experience w/ Isa, I have no doubt it’ll turn out PERFECT for my dinner party tonight! Yep. I’m THAT confident. A little note to MB- fun at parties…this does contain sugar. Absolutely. That’s why you’re supposed to eat it in moderation. And if you take a look at what’s in the b-day cakes that most people get from the grocery store (which I have never/will never do!), I use unbleached flour, and decrease the sugar by almost 1/3 in most of these recipes and they turn out fine. Considering they have no fillers, perservatives, artificial anything, cholesterol…I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a much healthier alternative. Happy bunny day!

Isa, I have got to make this. My only problem is I don’t have a bundt pan. I am doing my Amazon researching and I see that most of them are made out of aluminum. I am not sure what cast aluminum means. It also says that acidic ingredients can cause leaching. I was wondering what pan you used for this recipe and what you think about aluminum. I am so confused. I think it is funny people are afraid of sugar. It’s a dessert, right?

Made this a couple of days ago. It is amazing! I’m going to make another to take into work. I didn’t have any chocolate chips, so just bashed up some dark chocolate into little pieces. I also made the ganache to drizzle over it, and if that isn’t the most simple, delicious chocolate sauce, I’m the Queen of Sheba. Thanks Isa!

I’ve made this several times now and LOVE it!! The whole family does! Just wanted to tell you that my husband, without my knowledge, took a several-days-old slice to a professional baker. He loved it and wanted the recipe. My husband sent him your link. He made it……in all honesty, mine was better, and this is not just my opinion. He said he couldn’t get ahold of coconut milk yogurt and used soy milk instead. He did make the glaze which was good (I never have because the cake is so damn good on its own!). Just thought I’d share 🙂

This was AMAZING!! I used coconut oil instead of canola (I was out), plain coconut yogurt, and unsweetened almond milk. My dairy loving family oohed and aahed over this! I’m going to try it without the chocolate chips as cupcakes for my babe’s first birthday this weekend. Thanks Isa for another fantastic recipe!! 🙂

I made this for a mom’s group I had and everyone raved about it (not to mention a couple of them asked for the recipe) – success!! So moist and delicious, I want some right now! Thanks for sharing your genius with us! 🙂

Hi there iwas wondering why this won’t pin and also why do so many people use canola oil when it is sooooooooo bad for you and your body,i thank you for sharing your recipes they look great i am working so hard to lose weight so i only want healthy recipes and yes it is so nice to have a healthy sweet treat that is healthy thanks again Barb New Zealand xxxx

I didn’t have a bundt pan or chocolate chips, but I’m too pregnant for that to be an issue. I used one loaf tin and three mini loaf tins. I then found some fancy shmancy hazelnut chocolate organic vegan spread thing and dolloped it in.

[…] since it is still blogger week I turned to the PPK and found a recipe I haven’t made yet for Chocolate Yogurt Bundt Cake. I had some vanilla coconut milk yogurt in the fridge so this was pretty easy. I don’t always […]

Isa, I made this last night and I couldn’t have been more pleased. I don’t eat or make enough sweets to warrant purchasing and storing a bundt pan, so I split the batter between two 9-inch round cake pans and then stacked the cakes. I drizzled the ganache in between the cake rounds and on the top round, then loaded my plate with fresh strawberries. I am now on my third piece of the day. Everyone at work loved this and facebook is practically moaning all over my pictures. So…

I love your cake and I already made it twice. I added walnuts instead of chocolate chips and it worked well! I was wondering if you could tell me what is the role of the boiling water. Does it help having a moist cake? Thanks for your reply.

I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! Since it was an Isa recipe, I had no qualms about making it for the first time for a Thanksgiving dinner full of non-vegan friends and strangers. And as expected, it was awesome. Yum!

I made this cake last night and to my surprise it turned out o.k, I live in England and we measure every thing with digital kitchen scales, I found several conversion web sites but they all give out different variations, so it took me ages to convert your recipe over to grams, but I did it and my son has just popped in to see me and took half the cake with him.

For all of those who are wondering: YES!!! Yes you can sub the oil for APPLESAUCE. I know this, because I did this last weekend and the cake came out perfectly and deliciously chocolate-alicious! My parents and other non-vegans ate slice after slice, at least 3 slices in a row each! Everyone loved it, no one knew there was applesauce! With all of this said, I have not tried it with the oil yet, so I’m not sure how it compares. But I can tell you, that following the recipe EXACTLY except for subbing applesauce for the oil, and throwing in some extra chocolate chips (but hey, who doesn’t???), this cake comes out fabulously and is DELICIOUS.

Oh My Goodness! Isa, you are the Queen! My cake turned out beautiful! Up until today, I’d shied away from vegan baking, because of previous disasters. But, I decided to take one more chance because the photo of your cake looked so appetizing. My family absolutely loved it and devoured every morsel!

[…] a yogurt recipe on a baking blog…well a lot of cake recipes often call for yogurt, like this Vegan Chocolate Bundt Cake or Allergen-Free Lemonade Cake (I highly recommend both of these cookbook authors by the […]

Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download
it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a
few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump out.
Please let me know where you got your theme.

[…] making these next Christmas. I haven’t tried the icing yet, but I bet it is good too. Chocolate Yogurt Bundt Cake from the Post Punk Kitchen. We’ve made this cake probably four times! It is what I had […]

This is the best chocolate cake ever. I’ve made it loads of times, and the taste, texture, and everything are spot on. I’ve often been disappointed by vegan cake recipes, as I think veganising messes with the cake chemistry too much – but this recipe is absolutely perfect.
I’ve also made it in two loaf tins, and it works really well, so a bundt tin wouldn’t be essential. It just makes the cake look extra professional!
Isa wins the internet – again!

My eleven year old son just made this cake for a church luncheon and it was a huge hit! Many requests for the recipe. We had one question: if you make the cake a day or two in advance, what’s the best way to store it–in the frig or on the counter?

Very interesting! I read the recipe twice just to make sure and no eggs are mentioned among the ingredients! I believe it is probably the hot water that substitutes for eggs as well as the large amount of baking powder.
I will definitely give it a try! Thanks for sharing!
Cristina

I made this cake today for my husband and it was a simple process, smelled delicious throughout the preparation process. He loved it! He is a chocolate cake lover. This was my first scratch chocolate cake ever. I personally have given up the white sugar and did not have any of it. Could coconut sugar or stevia be substituted for the granulated sugar? I have to make this again so I can taste it.